Coordinated Tribal Water Quality Program

The Coordinated Tribal Water Quality Program (CTWQP) was developed in 1990 by the 27 federally recognized tribes in the State of Washington.

Tribes have worked with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to implement the CTWQP for the past 14 years. EPA funds are enabling the tribes to conduct water quality programs critical to the management of their treaty protected resources, and to provide for the health of their members and the environment.

The CTWQP is designed to further the ability of tribes to organize and begin addressing the water quality concerns that are threatening their reservations and treaty protected resources. Water pollution in Washington threatens the health of tribal members and their treaty resources without respect to political boundaries. Tribal jurisdictions interlock with many other jurisdictions, including some of the most densely populated and industrial areas in the state.
Three commonalties guide program design and implementation:

All tribes are confronted by serious water quality issues;

All tribes require necessary infrastructure to adequately address these issues; and

A watershed/ecosystem approach is the best approach to solving these issues because of their multi-jurisdictional nature.